All-NBA Fantasy Rookie Team: Who Will Join John Wall and Blake Griffin?
After the first month of the 2010-11 NBA season, Win My Fantasy League writer Justin Hasan comes up with the All-NBA rookie team from a fantasy perspective.
The No. 1 draft picks from the past two seasons—Blake Griffin and John Wall—have locked up the PF and PG positions, respectively, but which other rookies have become fantasy-relevant?
The article can also be found at WinMyFantasyLeague.com.
Point Guard – John Wall
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John Wall has had a monster start to the season, averaging 18.1 points, 9.8 assists, 0.9 three-pointers and a league-leading 3.3 steals per game. In just his sixth NBA game, Wall became the third-youngest player in NBA history to record a triple-double.
I managed to draft him in the fifth round in both my fantasy drafts, but I get the feeling he will be a first-round fantasy pick next year.
Wall is a pass-first point guard, averaging a double-double (points and assists) so far this season. The No. 1 pick in this year’s NBA draft has also shown tremendous hustle grabbing four boards per game.
He takes chances so the high turnovers will continue, but his steals, assists, rebounds and points will more than make up for it. He should return to the court soon after sitting out the past week with a sprained left ankle.
Shooting Guard – Landry Fields
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Taken in the second round by the New York Knicks, Landry Fields may be the biggest surprise of all rookies. He has started every game this season and has per game averages of 11.8 points, eight rebounds and one steal, while shooting 52 percent, over the past week.
Fields has benefited from Azuibuike’s injury and the fact that Wilson Chandler is playing a lot of minutes at power forward due to the lack of depth in the Knicks frontcourt. This has resulted in over 28 minutes per game, including a 21-point, 17-rebound game at Denver.
There may be more talented rookie shooting guards with likes of Wesley Johnson and Evan Turner, but right now Fields is out-performing both of them. Ride the Field train as long as you can as both Wesley Johnson and Evan Turner should out-produce him by the second half of the season.
Small Forward – Al-Farouq Aminu
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Lost in the rotation at the beginning of the season, Al-Farouq Aminu has taken advantage of his recent opportunity to start as the Clippers' small forward. In the past week, the former Wake Forest Demon Deacon has averaged 10.8 points, 4.2 rebounds, 1.3 three-pointers and one steal per game.
But after playing at least 27 minutes in each of the last three games, Aminu came off the bench in the loss to the Knicks, playing just five minutes.
At this point, it appears that Ryan Gomes started in place of Aminu for matchup purposes against the Knicks as Aminu returned to the starting lineup in the proceeding game and played over 36 minutes in the Clippers win over the Hornets.
The Clippers are currently the worst team in the league, and with the youth movement underway, Al-Farouq Aminu will get plenty of minutes alongside Blake Griffin, Eric Bledsoe and Eric Gordon. He is available in almost all fantasy leagues and should be picked up immediately.
Power Forward – Blake Griffin
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Blake Griffin is sixth in the league in offensive boards (3.9 per game) and scoring over 18 points per contest. His 44-point, 15-rebound, 7-assist performance gave fantasy owners a taste of his monstrous potential.
For a rookie, he has shown remarkable consistency scoring double-digits in every game and tearing down at least 14 rebounds in five of those games.
Griffin works as hard as anyone, but to this point he has under-produced in blocks (0.4 per game). With his athletic ability, it is only a matter of time before he gets the timing of blocks down.
That being said, he only averaged 1.2 blocks in his final season at Oklahoma, so don’t expect Griffin to carry your team in this category. Still, even without a high block average, his points, rebounds and field goal percentage have provided a big boost to any fantasy team through the first month of the season.
Center – DeMarcus Cousins
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DeMarcus Cousins has been averaging 10.2 points, 6.8 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 0.9 blocks and 0.8 steals per game. His 38.5 percent field goal percentage should improve, but the most alarming stat is the 4.2 fouls per game.
Making the All-Fantasy rookie team speaks more to the lack of centers in the 2010-11 draft class than to Cousins’ production through the first month.
In a league with undersized centers, Cousins has the NBA body and talent to one day be a dominant force in the NBA. But right now his emotional play and aggressiveness are resulting in fouls and turnovers (2.7 per game) that are limiting his minutes.
If he hopes to take the starting spot from Samuel Dalembert and play over 30 minutes per game, he needs to play with more control.
